I've been slacking recently, but I did manage to do some work on the bedroom. The latest updates are: new bed, new light fixture, over the bed wall art, and new curtains! It is taking more time and work than I expected because as with every home improvement project there will be a few unplanned difficulties. Since my bedroom is no different, I've decided that I each update deserves its own post! The first of the bunch is the bed.

I purchased a lovely French bed frame, circa 1920 from eBay. While speaking with the seller he asked if I would need extended side-rails - my answer would depend on both the price and if I would be the lucky buyer. Apparently, someone else called about the same bed earlier that day. Since I never heard of extended side-rails I asked, "It's a queen, right?" His answer, "Yes." Then I thought, extended sideboards, "No." Well, I learned about extended side-rails the hard way. At the same time I purchased a luxury queen sized mattress at an amazing price. No returns though. So I only had one chance on the mattress, it would have to fit (a little foreshadowing here).

Additionally, I spent a few hours on a Friday night re-upholstering the headboard in a yellow velvet from Mood Designer Fabrics. The existing fabric was a pretty Neoclassical green silk, but it was also quite worn and stained and didn't fit the colors of my bedroom. I made double welt cording - you can see my chair tutorial [here] about how to do that. The completed headboard is exactly what I had in mind!

Shoot ahead to bed installation

When we began to put the bed back together (my father and Jack spearheaded this part), they noticed that the supports on the side-rails needed updating. We also realized that the bed would be a lot lower in height than my existing bed. That meant that they would have to build lifts and better supports. With that realization, they took off to Jack's carpentry shop.

Several hours later, they returned with small stilts and refurbished siderails, the bed was put together, and the mattress placed. What we all learned was that the mattress is actually 2" longer than the bed frame itself (you can see it in the above photo)!?!?! That means I DID NEED EXTENDED SIDERAILS! At this point everyone was exhausted and the extensions would have to wait. 2 months later, we're still waiting. Jack with his magic hands, will remake siderails to match. We also learned that the new mattress is extremely deep and covers a lot of the headboard - the plan is to sink the mattress down into the bed frame once the siderails are made. With all that said, I'm still happy with the current state of the bedroom, the bed is beautiful and I love new headboard upholstery. There will have to be a later updated post on the fixes we plan to do. What I learned from this experience. . . . If you make a purchase form online or something that is nonreturnable, make sure you measure EVERYTHING and ALL THE COMPONENTS. What's that phrase? "Measure twice, cut once." I think the meaning can translate to shopping as well.